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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly firom the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A B ell & Howell Information Company 300 NorthZeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 LUSO-AFRJCAN REAL MARAVILLOSCP.-. A STUDY ON THE CONVERGENCE OF LATIN AMERICAN AND LUSO-AFRICAN LITERATURES DISSERTATION Presented in partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University Bv Hanna Betina Gotz The Ohio State University 1998 Dissertation committee: Approved by Dr. Jaime Giordano, Adviser Dr. Helena Kaufman . ^ Dr. Francis Abiola Irele . Adviser Department of Spanish and Portuguese UMI Number: 9911197 Copyright 1998 by Gotz, Hcuina Betina All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9911197 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by Hanna Betina Gotz 1998 ABSTRACT This Ph.D. dissertation aims to contrast the novels of the Angolan writers Arthur Pestana dos Santos - Pepeteia - and José Agualusa with one exponent of theReal Maravilloso Latin America; Manuel Scorza. From this parallel I want to establish the connections between the former and the latter and show that the novels by the African writers belong to the narrative of the Real Maravilloso Literature. According to the Real Maravilloso theory, formulated by Alejo Carpentier. Real Maravilloso literature is an exclusively Latin American phenomenon, and therefore, his African counterparts could not be labeled as such. My study in comparative literature, however, concludes that writers of other ex-European colonies also present traces of what is understood as Real Maravilloso. In order to show that this phenomenon is not exclusively Latin American 1 anchor my analysis on the hypothesis that Real Maravilloso literature emerges as a literary form that subverts the European colonial discourse, that is, the European narrative form of the canon novel in the sense that it attempts to find its own discourse form, independent and antagonic in relation to the Eurocentric matrix. This is the case of Pepeteia and Agualusa, of the postcolonial generation of Angolan writers, who, according to Pires Laranjeira, begin to resort to fantasy and endow some of the characters with magic qualities. Secondly, 1 conclude that these authors, among many non-Latin American writers, stop believing in the Utopian ideal of national reconstruction which is typically neoclassic in nature and modem in its western origin. They develop a narrative that interacts with a much more complex, ambiguous and indeterminate reality. In other words, they abandon what Jean-François Lyotard calls the metanarrative (which can be characterized by a simplistic worldview, compiled of binarisms such as East'West, colonizer/colonized, capitalist/socialist, Christian/non-Christian or heathen, among others), because this western literary form is imposed during the period of colonization and does not conform to the reality of the recently independent nations. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the Real Maravilloso can not be characterized as Latin American per se. but rather as belonging to a postmodern aesthetics. Ill Dedicated to my parents Hans and Hanna, and to the late Professor Kubavanda IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Never before have the words by Gabriel Garcia Marquez been so true and clear to me as while 1 was writing this dissertation. He said that writing is "como un nâufrago en medio del mar. Si. es el oficio mas solitario del mundo. Nadie puede ayudarle a uno a escribir lo que esta escribiendo." Because it is such a solitary and difficult act, 1 would like to thank everyone who directly or indirectly helped me survive the shipwreck and finally get to the shore. 1 am indebted to the members of my committee. Profs. Jaime Giordano, Helena Kaufman, and Francis Abiola Irele, for their knowledge, encouragement and patience. The Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and its staff, for always having been so supportive. My other professors, for having opened so many routes of knowledge that allowed me to sail off. The Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, for giving me a leave-of-absence. To Prof. Élvio Funck, my English professor back in college, between 1982- 86, for encouraging me to go into a graduate program abroad, and for writing me my first letter of recommendation, and for meeting with me 12 years later and offering to read my manuscript and checking my English. 1 thank Vitor Westhelle, my brother-in-law and friend, for having been my outside mentor and for being the devil’s advocate. My sister Gigi, my friends Rosalia and Beth a, for nagging me to finish this dissertation and being there for me whenever 1 felt like giving up and sinking with the ship. Jane, for making my stay in Columbus more bearable during the three months prior to the defense. I would also like to thank my mom for her prayers. My dad, for his joking threats: "If you don’t want to be a pastor’s wife or a housewife, you’d better start working hard, and now!” That was before 1 even finished high school! A special thanks to Karen and John, my guardian angels! A big hug to all of you and to many other friends, for being so marvelously real, whether present or absent! VITA January 9, 1962 ................................................ Bom. Roiante, RS. Brazil. 1986 B.A.. Languages and Literature, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. 1989 .................................................................... M.A.. African Literature. Black Studies. The Ohio State University. 1991 .................................................................... M.A.. TESOL. Department of Education. The Ohio State University. 1989-1995 .......................................................... Graduate Teaching Associate. Department of Spanish and Portuguese. The Ohio State University FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: Spanish and Portuguese Specialization: Contemporary Novel in Latin America and Lusophone Africa Minor Field: Literary Theory VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................. ii D edication.........................................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................ v V ita .................................................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures................................................................................................................................................. x Chapters: Introduction...................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. The Modem cathedral .....................................................................................................................9 I. I The Adventures of Modernity: all that is solid melts into air (Berman)............................................................................................................................9 1.1.1 Modernity's first phase: challenging Absolutism - the medieval cathedral....................................................................................11 1.1.2 Modernity's second phase: the Enlightenment Project - the modem cathedral......................................................................................12 1.1.3 The modem sensibility ................................................................................... 14 1.1.4 The modem irony ......................................................................................... 17 1.1.3 Modernity's third phase - flaws in the modem cathedral ......................................................................................................... 22 1.1.6 M odemity’s ultramodem stag e ....................................................................25

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